Dec 27, 2017-Former union telecommunication minister Sukh Ram’s son tops the list of richest ministers who took oath today at Shimla. A total of 12 ministers including Chief Minister Jairam Thakur took the oath.

Anil Sharma from Mandi constituency who is the son of Sukh Ram has declared his assets worth 40.24 crore with the election commission. The others who are in the top three richest ministers include Mahender Singh from Dharampur constituency has declared assets worth Rs 15 crore while Kishan Chand from Kangra constituency has got assets worth Rs 7 crore.

It is pertinent to mention here that Sukh Ram had become the icon of corruption when he was convicted by a court in connection with seizure of unaccounted money from his home while he was holding the communications portfolio in the union cabinet in 1996.

The data regarding the details of ministers was released by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) which is an NGO and works for electoral reforms.

As per the data five (42 percent) ministers have also declared criminal cases against themselves.

It is not only the ministers with highest assets but even the one with lowest has got assets worth Rs 74 lakh. Bikram Singh from Jaswan-Pragpur constituency is the minister with lowest assets.

On the education front, while three ministers are 12th pass, eight are graduates or have higher degrees. One minister has declared his qualification as doctorate as per the data. Remaining ministers have not declared their educational qualification.

Interestingly, Sarveen Choudhary is the only women out of the total 12 who took oath today.